| Thoughts on the Big Ten |
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| Written by Drakesax | ||||||||
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The Big Ten has made some rather large changes mostly due to their new "Big Ten Network" over this past year. Has it been worth it? Is the Big Ten going through a down period? Should the Big Ten add another school? How long will it take for the Big Ten to compete with the other power conferences again?
The entire time I when I was growing up I can't remember a time when the Big Ten wasn't one of, if not the strongest college sports conference in the country. From Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana to Minnesota, Iowa, Purdue and Wisconsin there were always strong teams in all of the major college sports. Now, the Big Ten seems to be on a bit of a down-turn. Ohio State has been a strong team through the regular season in football only to be destroyed come bowl time. Basketball has been somewhat of a joke, with the exception of Greg Oden the Big Ten hasn't produced a true threat possibly since Magic. There are a bevy of solid NFL players to have come through the Big Ten over the past five years but I'm at a loss to name one true, high-end game changer right now off the top of my head.
I think that the Big Ten Network could be a good thing in due time. Right now I think its a joke that so many great Big Ten match-ups are going unseen. I think that the Big Ten needs to negotiate a deal to get onto more cable packages. So few households have satellite right now that the great idea of getting almost every Big Ten sporting event on TV has gone unaccomplished because no TV's have it. I find great frustration with the Big Ten Network. Not only is it on limited TV sets but the commentators they have right now just aren't any good for the most part. There are a few decent commentators but for the most part they are other networks cast-offs.
Right now the overall speed of the Big Ten is lacking. The Big Ten just doesn't have as many athletes as the Big XII, ACC, SEC, or the Pac-10. I think the Big Ten can compete with the Big East...but who really cares about the Big East. Right now college football is dominated by the SEC, Big XII and Pac-10. College Basketball is a Pac-10, SEC, ACC dominated affair. The best teams in the Big Ten can hang with some teams in the current power conferences but we can't hang with the high end teams.
What does the Big Ten need to do? They need to add one more team and develop a Big Ten East/West. They need to add an end of the season conference championship game in football. They should be on the phone with Notre Dame. Notre Dame needs to find a football conference and they'd be a nice addition to the Big Ten in basketball too. Ohio State and Michigan could be in opposite East/West conferences creating a great end of the year rivalry game almost every year. I just think that would add a lot right now.
Right now the Big Ten's upcoming recruiting classes look to be on the upswing. Within the next three-four years the Big Ten should be able to compete again with the other power conferences. Being a huge Gophers fan I'm looking forward to next seasons classes across the board. If the Gophers are looking on the up and up I'm sure the rest of the conference is looking great too.
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